Maryland Case May Discourage Political Dirty TricksA campaign manager for former Gov. Bob Ehrlich is charged with using fraud to dissuade voters from going to the polls on Election Day last year. The case could affect how many dirty tricks voters will see in upcoming elections.

A little-noticed trial in Maryland could have a big impact on the kinds of dirty tricks voters see in next year's elections. Things like anonymous flyers or phone calls telling people to vote on the wrong day or in the wrong precinct. Or that they can't vote at all if they have an outstanding parking ticket. Such tactics are often illegal.

But as NPR's Pam Fessler reports, it's rare for anyone to get caught, let alone end up in court.

At around 3:00 PM, Ehrlich's political director sent campaign manager Paul Schurick an email asking: What does Julius need to make the city turnout stay low?

Julius Henson was a consultant hired to help the campaign with the black vote. The city was Baltimore, where many of the state's black voters live. Two hours later, Schurick gave Henson the go-ahead to start making robocalls to about 110,000 registered Democrats in and around Baltimore. An unidentified female caller essentially said the election was over.

(SOUNDBITE OF AUTOMATED CALL)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I'm calling to let everyone know that Governor O'Malley and President Obama have been successful. Our goals have been met.

FESSLER: And she went on to say...

(SOUNDBITE OF AUTOMATED CALL)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Relax. Everything is fine. The only thing left is to watch it on TV tonight.

FESSLER: In other words, don't bother voting. Schurick now faces four criminal counts for, among other things, using fraud to discourage voters from going to the polls. A jury is expected to decide the case this week. But Schurick says he never saw the political director's email and that he approved the robocalls because the consultant told him they were counterintuitive, that they'd encourage Democrats thinking about supporting Ehrlich to hurry up and vote.

Prosecutors say that defies common sense and that the calls were clearly an effort to suppress the African-American vote. But, says Rick Hasen, an election expert at the University of California Irvine School of Law...

RICK HASEN: The First Amendment gives a wide space for political speech.

FESSLER: Which he says makes such cases difficult to prosecute.

HASEN: There's all kinds of misleading stuff that goes on in campaigns and we don't want to criminalize people from engaging in sharp language and even potentially deceptive language that could, in fact, be constitutionally protected speech.

FESSLER: And he says it's a difficult line to draw. Indeed, Schurick's attorneys are already laying the groundwork for an appeal on constitutional grounds if need be. Hasen notes that state laws also vary greatly on the use of deceptive campaign practices and there's no federal statute against them, despite efforts by one Senator Barack Obama a few years ago to get one passed.

Still, Gilda Daniels, a former Justice Department official, thinks the Maryland case sends a strong message that such tactics are increasingly frowned upon.

GILDA DANIELS: Even if he's not found guilty, I think the fact that there has actually been a case brought of this type is a victory. If he's convicted, then it certainly highlights it even more.

FESSLER: Former Republican operative, Allen Raymond, agrees. But says people can do some crazy things in the fog of a campaign.

RAYMOND ALLEN REPUBLICAN POLITICAL CONSULTANT: Sometimes when people want to win, something sounds like a great idea at 11 o'clock at night at campaign headquarters. But in the light of day, isn't such a great idea.

FESSLER: And he should know. Raymond went to prison for his role in jamming the Democratic Party phone lines in the 2002 New Hampshire Senate race. Raymond says the real question is why the Ehrlich campaign would even bother since there's little evidence deceptive tactics work.

CONSULTANT: He wasn't going to win that race. I mean, it just was a done deal. I mean, it was over. I mean, literally, how many people did they think who received this phone call were actually going to stay home?

FESSLER: And indeed, one Democratic recipient testified that he was so angry when he got the call and saw it as a trick to discourage him from voting that he immediately went out to vote.

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